The Iron Knight (The De Russe Legacy Book 3)

Note:
All Kathryn’s novels are designed to be read as stand-alones, although many have cross-over characters or cross-over family groups. Novels that are grouped together have related characters or family groups.

Series are clearly marked. All series contain the same characters or family groups except the American Heroes Series, which is an anthology with unrelated characters.

There is NO particular chronological order for any of the novels because they can all be read as stand-alones, even the series.

For more information, find it in
A Reader’s Guide to the Medieval World of Le Veque
.

Dedicated to all of you who have had, or needed, a second chance in life. Even in the darkest hour, there is always hope. Take it from me.

Author’s Foreword

Welcome to the story of The Iron Knight!

This was such a fun story to write. Very different from most of my others in that the hero is different. To put it frankly, in Medieval terms, Lucien de Russe is an old man.

He’s forty years old. Now, that’s not old by today’s standards, but when you’re a Medieval knight and you’ve just spent the past twenty years in various battles, exhausting yourself and beating your body up, forty is OLD. But I like Lucien because he’s wise and seasoned. He’s seen a lot and done a lot. He’s got a stellar reputation as a warrior but the truth is that his personal life is a mess. You’ll find out why.

A couple of things to point out – Richmond le Bec appears in the prologue ten years after his battle with Hotspur on the Welsh Marches. He, too, was forty years old in his novel,
GREAT PROTECTOR
, so this book is set about ten years after that. Richmond is nearing fifty. That’s ancient for Medieval times.

Also, there is a young knight in this book who has a fairly important role – Colton de Royans. He’s twenty years old in this novel and he’s got his father’s wisdom and fighting ability. Remember Colton from
TO THE LADY BORN
? He was about two years old in the book and was just a pistol. He tried to steal goats. He wanted everything he saw. Yes, he was spoiled, but that little toddler has grown up into a hell of a man. See if you don’t think so. And his father, Weston, hero of
TO THE LADY BORN
, makes an appearance at the end. Weston is one of my all-time favorite characters.

The usual disclaimers/clarifications here, too – Spelthorne Castle is fictional. Sherborne Castle is real – I’ve actually been there. It’s a giant place and, oh, the stories I imagined for it! It has also appeared in
THE QUESTING
. The garrison commander in this book is a direct descendant of Cortez de Bretagne, the hero of
THE QUESTING
. Looks like the de Bretagnes made Sherborne their legacy (although in real life, that was not true as Sherborne Castle was held by the Catholic Church).

Just a few fun facts before you delve into this story. I truly hope you love Lucien and Sophina’s story because I loved writing it.

Love,

Kathryn

Table of Contents

Title Page

Kathryn Le Veque Novels

About Kathryn Le Veque

PROLOGUE

February, 1408 A.D.

Bramham Moor, Yorkshire

G
od, he was
so frozen he could hardly lift his hand.

The battle at Bramham, which had first involved knights on horseback, was now a mass battle of men on foot, hand-to-hand combat in the middle of an icy moor, with snow falling and ice building up so fast that once a man had fallen, the blood spilling from his body turned to ice crystals in mere seconds. Chain mail was freezing up, particularly bad when blood or water came into contact with it, making for a thoroughly miserable experience.

It was brutal as well as slow, this battle. Men were slogging through red-tinted mud in slow motion, trying to kill each other but barely able to fight because the weather was so bad. Between slashing swords, flying flails, and thrusting fists, it was turning into more of a shoving match. At least the movement was helping them stay warm. Once in a while, a dagger would come out and someone would grunt as a frozen blade was shoved between his ribs.

The smell of death was in the air, too, mingled with the smell of smoke from the fires from both Henry IV’s encampment, led by the High Sheriff of Yorkshire, and the Earl of Northumberland’s encampment. Death always smelled like smoke, something like dirty, gritty embers mingled with old blood. It was the smell of lives being wasted. There was nothing pleasant or victorious about that smell at all.

But here he was, in the middle of another battle in a long line of innumerable battles that had seen the King of England fending off a rebellion from the great house to the north, the House of Percy. Northumberland had been very active over the past ten years trying to wrest the throne from the former Henry of Bolingbroke, and because he was loyal to the king – and a favored of the man – he was always expected to be right in the middle of whatever conflict happened to be occurring.

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